Sunshine Challenge - Red

Embers all around glowed and popped, stems of roses still standing wilting. The scent of smoke filled the air, weighing down the faint breeze. Smoldering ash tainted every blade of grass.  Kneeling amidst it all, sallow and despondent, was a human girl. She reached out to touch one of the remaining blossoms. Even withered and broken, it was a bright and daring sort of thing, she thought. It defied the force that by all means should have destroyed it all together. Looking at her own scarred hands, she supposed she had done the same. Grasping the flower, she plucked it from its stem. A faint light surrounded it as she let her energy flow forth. It slowly faded into her; she would need its strength for the days to come. Getting to her feet, she took one last look at the dying fires, their warmth strengthening and misleading all at once. She turned her back from them, and walked onward towards the horizon.

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For the color red, I at first wasn't sure what to write. I certainly have pre-established OCs that are associated with the color and its themes, and there are many fandom characters I had thought of as well; but I wanted to do something a bit more concentrated and stand alone. Red is a very bold color, so it's fitting that all it's associations are feelings and concepts that aren't mild. From bravery to romance to revolution, red is associated with strong feelings and the continuing nature of things, and for me kept bringing to mind images of flowers and flames, so I figured why not mix the two and play around with themes? Part way through I was inspired by the concept of the phoenix, and so slipped in a bit of magic there, even if I didn't exactly make her a literal phoenix (plus I also just...really like magic lol).

Sunshine Challenge - Orange

Dashing eagerly across the dirt lawn, Emmie clung to their bag of goods before settling down at the log table. Every fall, they and their best friend would meet to play games and eat food under the sinking sun. This time was going to be checkers, before that had been mancala. The table was laid with pumpkins, pies, and stuffed apples, the air filled with the scents of cinnamon, citrus teas, and freshly baked breads. From the large maple tree just south of them amber leaves fell and got caught in their hair. A candle was lit when the sky grew dark and they inevitably were still going. The hours went uncounted, basking in the warmth of each others' company. Arranging things on the table just so, they looked up to see their friend silhouetted against the sunlight, and waved in greeting.

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I rarely write these sorts of quaint scenes, but orange is such a cheerful color and with themes like harvests and friendships, I wanted to give it a try. Though I did make myself kind of hungry writing this lol. I really liked the themes for this prompt, the associations were all bright and interesting, many bringing various kinds of imagery to mind. Orange and red are both warm colors, but I think orange is often associated as being a bit softer in tone. For my own future harvest prospects, that largely takes the form of completing various projects, especially my artistic ones. I always get excited to do the last edits for a short story, or the colors for a drawing, or even just progressing in a book or video game. I guess success is quite vitalizing. xD One theme for orange I liked a lot but didn't get to address was the theme of change; it fits neatly with the fall and harvest vibe, but can be applied to most of the others I think as well. Change is a sort of spice of life, and one of the roots of good storytelling, so it's a great thing to try and explore or be open to.